UK vs. US Spelling

I was writing a short piece in Microsoft Word and a squiggly line appeared. I knew the word was spelled correctly but Microsoft was telling me otherwise. I quickly realized Word was trying to make my character American. No! Word, my character is British and his vocabulary shan’t be spelt differently.

So what type of spelling should you choose? Well, if you do not have a specific style guide that specifies what you should be using, I recommend knowing your audience and staying consistent. If your audience is mainly American, you may come off trite if you are using the British spelling; or, if you are looking to write for a broader community of people than I recommend using the UK spelling. Whatever you choose to use, it’s best to stay consistent.

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10 thoughts on “UK vs. US Spelling”

Well, this is certainly a very coulourful post. I’m somewhat honoured that Chris thought of posting this. I hadn’t realised this was an issue before. Travelling around wordpress I do not see this subject often. I suppose it could become quite humourous in any given situation. 🙂

I agree. I hadn’t realised it was a problem. It is not as if I get red lines under half of my words when posting, or that people ask questions like ‘what is a mac’? There must be some humourous situations arise, misunderstandings and so forth. Chips, my love?

It makes me doubt my spelling ability when i get a squiggly line under a word i know for sure is spelt right. It’s awful. I was a top speller at school and now i probably write half the time in UK spelling and half the time in US spelling and don’t even realise!

I know that squiggly red line well. In fact I doubt my spelling in a lot of places, like WP, if I do not see a squiggly line. I have begun to expect it and worry if I do not see it. Heaven forbid I spell words with the US spelling.